


For His Grimm

by shadowolfhunter



Series: Fixing What's Broken [1]
Category: Grimm (TV)
Genre: Domestic Violence, M/M, Physical Abuse, Trying to fix what's broken, injuries, risk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-13
Updated: 2015-04-19
Packaged: 2018-03-22 18:11:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3738436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowolfhunter/pseuds/shadowolfhunter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Juliette and Nick have broken up, and Juliette has moved in with Sean Renard. Sean wants to help her, because he wants Nick to be happy, and Nick loves Juliette. But Juliette is spinning out of control, and very soon Sean finds himself in an abusive situation that he cannot handle. In desperation he turns to Rosalee for help.</p><p>Rosalee is horrified at the state of the Captain's physical injuries, and sees that he's not in control of the situation. Does she betray the Captain's confidence, or stand aside and let Sean try to cope alone?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Battered

**Author's Note:**

> AU of season 4.

“No, Sean, you are not going back there.” Rosalee is smearing something green on the massive bruise on his right shoulder, her hands are gently wrapping bandages around it, the bandaging continues down his arm, Sean can feel the warmth ease into his bruised, battered flesh.

“I have to.” He tries to explain, he’s trying to fix Juliette, and get her back to her Grimm. His Grimm. Not that Nick is his, or ever would be his. But that’s his little secret.

Rosalee fixes the shoulder bandage with tape. “Sean, you can’t. If you go back now, in this condition, she will kill you.” The sensible, pragmatic side of Renard agrees. He’s a mess. Rosalee has already wrapped his ribs, at least two are cracked at the very least, the shoulder is bad, it’s not just surface bruising, she twisted his arm halfway up his back with her surprising hexenbiest strength spurred on by anger and frustration, the shoulder’s wrenched, probably a torn rotator cuff, and there’s tearing in the muscles too. Not that Sean would readily admit it either, especially to Rosalee, but he’s in pain.

A lot of pain.

He whimpers a little when Rosalee eases his right arm into a sling. She takes his left hand into both of hers. “You’re badly beaten, and you need a night at least without risk. I can’t force you to stay,” she puts a hand up to his cheek, “but I am prepared to beg here. You’re hurt. Please let me help you.”

The look on her gentle face, Sean can quite see why the blutbad fell in love with this lovely fuchsbau vixen. He realizes that he’s actually shaking, shivering with the effort of holding himself together. Someone cares about his well-being, he really isn’t used to that, and someone has no agenda other than seeing he comes out of this in one piece. He doesn’t quite trust himself to speak, because this, he has no idea how to deal with.

So he nods.

Rosalee helps him get himself a bit better dressed, then she guides him to her car. Getting in is a bit of a strain, but the tea that she brewed earlier is relaxing him.

He’s virtually asleep on his feet by the time she gets him back to her home, guides him upstairs to the spare bedroom that was Nick’s for a while, helps him out of his clothes leaving his boxers to sleep in, she notes the cuts and abrasions all over his body but thankfully says nothing about it because he really doesn’t think he can deal with that fallout, then guides him beneath the covers.

Sean Renard is in a very bad way, he thinks he’s successfully hidden it from Rosalee, but she has tended the bruising, and felt the damage to his body, she knows how much pain he is in. So Rosalee sits with him until he does fall asleep. She gently pulls the quilt a little higher, eases an extra pillow behind his injured shoulder. Renard is tough, he’s a zauberbiest and therefore fairly durable, but this. Rosalee is horrified at his physical state.

He shifts, muttering something in his sleep, and Rosalee gently strokes his face, muttering some soothing nonsense of her own.

He settles, but Rosalee keeps up the gentle contact, he needs it. The Captain is not as black as he has been painted. Sometimes he does things that are counter-productive, but he has been a member of the Laufer since he was a boy, and Rosalee knows more than she tells sometimes.

Now she has a choice to make, she can keep Sean’s confidence, and stand aside and watch him get beaten to a pulp, possibly even killed, or she can act as her conscience dictates and get him some help.

Nick doesn’t know the half of what his Captain does for him. Out of love alone. Rosalee is not a fool, she knows what motivates the Captain when it comes to Nick Burkhardt. It’s partly for Nick that Rosalee is here now, because Sean deserves some happiness, and she knows that, deep down, Nick is not quite as adverse to Sean as Sean thinks he is.

She needs Nick to see Sean like this. Needs to get some ugly home truths into Nick’s head. She knows what Nick feels for Juliette, she grieves for the loss of her friend, and the pain she is suffering, but Juliette is reaching out in her anger and pain to destroy them all, and if Rosalee cannot cure her, they have to find a way to stop her.

This is not just about Juliette, or Rosalee and Monroe, or Bud, or any wesen, it isn’t even about the resistance or the Royals, it’s about saving the lives of people around them, who they love.

Renard putting himself on the chopping block because he thinks that this is what Nick wants has to stop. Sean may not be entirely vital to the resistance, but he is valuable, and Rosalee has come to see him as something more than the bastard royal, more than his half-zauberbiest heritage.

She wants Sean to see it. She loves Nick, she really does, but he needs to get his head out of his ass right now, for all their sakes.


	2. Bruised

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sean goes home, which turns out to be a really bad mistake.

“This is going to hurt.”

Sean has no doubt of that. He tries to relax in the vain hope of going with the flow, but she has hold of his right wrist.

She likes to hurt him, but this, this is a whole new world of pain. She’s forcing his twisted arm up his back like before, he falls to his knees trying to escape the pain as his shoulder finally pops under the strain. She likes to have him at her mercy.

And mercy is in very short supply.

She pops his shoulder, and then just lets go, with the shoulder joint out his arm flops down to his side wringing another agonized scream from his sore throat. There’s no rhyme or reason why she’s doing this, there are cut wounds on his forearm that she opened with a knife even though he told her that his blood won’t open the book, that didn’t stop her from trying, the bruises from her first attack aren’t even healed, but they are overlaid by even more deep tissue bruising as she takes out her frustrations on his body.

Juliette doesn’t even want sex any more, she just wants to hurt him over and over again. Because he can’t turn her back, and somebody has to pay.

He thinks he may have passed out, because when he wakes, he’s lying on the floor and he can’t hear Juliette. He has to get out.

His right arm is dangling useless by his side, he’s going to have to immobilize it, he stumbles to the kitchen, under the sink is a roll of duct tape, with only one useable hand to work with, it’s a struggle, but he manages to fold his arm up across his chest, manages to get enough tape to wrap securely around, it’s not much support, but it’s better than nothing and he tears the tape with his teeth. Movement hurts even more, but he forces himself to stumble away from the kitchen towards his front door.

What he’s going to do when he’s outside, he doesn’t know, because he can’t drive like this.

“Going somewhere?” She’s behind him, on the stairs. Oh shit. Sean almost never swears, but this is a special occasion. 

He’s actually really frightened now, this is not like the Verrat or his family or anything else, because she’s out of any sort of control, he can’t help her and Juliette is beyond any kind of rationality. She said she was losing herself. Well this is pretty damn lost.

He turns, every movement is agony with what she has done to his arm. The bruising on the rest of his body is beginning to tighten, even being able to walk out of the house is starting to look even more of a challenge.

He digs deep and finds some more reserves, because this could be life or death now, and she is the most powerful hexenbiest he has ever encountered, even including his mother.

He looks up into her face, wondering at how such a beautiful, compassionate young woman can look like that. He can read the calculation in her eyes, once so soft and appealing, now so cold and hard.

Something heavy slams into his back, with a supreme effort he stays on his feet and stumbles forward to the foot of the stairs.

She moves down, until she can reach him, remains on the steps, two up so that she can look down on him, her hand reaches out, and cups his jaw and Sean shivers in despair.

“We have so much more to do.” Even her voice has changed. From the heat and the passion, to the rage, to something much, much colder and harder. Her cold eyes regard him, and Sean tries to keep the fear out of his expression. Unsuccessfully, as the hard eyes turn triumphant. Her fingers slide around his neck, digging in hard, and she pulls him forward.

“And I find I have the time now.” Her grip around the back of his neck is like iron, and as she pulls him up the stairs, Sean feels utter terror.

His last thought before she drags him back into his bedroom is that he needs Nick to save him.


	3. Bloodied

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nick and Hank go to Renard's house at Rosalee's urging. What they find profoundly shocks them.

Nick really doesn’t know why he’s going to his Captain’s house with Hank, but Rosalee insisted he needed to, and she had handed over a key to the Captain’s front door, which did confuse Nick somewhat.

Neither of them had been to the Captain’s new home, and Nick had to admit that it was pretty impressive.

“Nice.” Said Hank, as they drew up to the parking space.

Renard’s SUV was there, so presumably the Captain was home.

“I really don’t know why I’m doing this.” Nick grouches. He’s really not happy with Renard, it didn’t take long to work out where Juliette had gone, and Nick’s really, really not happy with his girlfriend being with his boss.

Hank glares and knocks on the front door.

There’s no answer, and they look at each other, because Renard’s clearly there, and they are both getting a funny feeling.

Nick unsnaps his holster, freeing his weapon as he uses the key that Rosalee gave him. “Captain?” Hank calls as they move through the house. The ground floor appears clear, and Nick’s sensitive hearing picks up something from the upper floor.

Motioning to Hank, they head up the stairs.

One of the Captain’s shirts, bloodied and torn, lies on the landing, and Nick’s heart sinks, this isn’t good.

They find the spare bedroom, then the master. As Nick pushes open the door, he sees the crossbow on the bed. For a second he freezes, because he knows that weapon, knows where it came from, and he steps forward, hears Hank gasp and turns.

Oh god.

“Captain… Sean…”

Renard’s standing against the wall, pinned there. Two crossbow bolts, one through his right shoulder, one through his upper left arm hold him against the wall. Both wounds are bleeding sluggishly, Renard’s head is down, chin on his chest, he looks spent and half-dead, and it doesn’t take a genius, or even a very obtuse Grimm to work out how this happened.

Nick puts a gentle hand on Renard’s neck, feeling for a pulse. Renard lifts his head a little, the green eyes are dulled with pain and a hopelessness that sinks into Nick’s soul.

“Sean.” He says, unsteady. In the back of his mind he can hear Hank calling for an ambulance, all he can really take in and process is just how badly injured his Captain is, and how he knows who did it.

They need to move Sean. Very carefully, Nick slides an arm around Sean’s waist, and Nick and Hank prepare to pull out the left bolt. They draw it back carefully, and Hank clamps a towel around the wound as it starts to bleed more.

Which leaves the right shoulder. Nick can see that the arm is out of its socket, it’s dangling, useless, by Renard’s side, he moves closer to Sean. “I’m sorry, this is going to hurt.” He whispers.

There’s this look of trust in Sean’s eyes that nearly breaks Nick’s heart, because he’s done nothing to deserve that look. He slides his arm a little more firmly around Sean, “lean on me,” and just like that Sean does.

Together Nick and Hank draw the bolt out of Sean’s shoulder, and Sean’s legs just give way, his considerably heavier body bearing Nick all the way to the floor, as Nick just tries to keep Sean from hitting his head, and winds up half under his Captain’s huge frame, cradling his injured boss in his arms.

Nick puts pressure on Sean’s bleeding right shoulder wound, while Hank tackles the left upper arm.

Nick’s task is more difficult because he knows he’s really hurting Sean, the right shoulder is badly damaged as well as the puncture wound. He looks down, trying to apologise, the Captain’s eyes meet his for a few seconds, then Renard’s eyes roll back and he passes out.

Wu and the ambulance arrive practically together, and Nick and Hank step back to allow the paramedics to assess Renard’s injuries.

Now that he has a second to really take stock, Nick is horrified to see that Sean’s face and body are covered in bruises. Bad ones, the kind that only come from a sustained campaign of violence.

The paramedics are ready to move, and Nick makes a split second decision. “I’m going with him.” He can’t quite meet Hank’s eyes as he follows the gurney out. Wu’s knowing expression he avoids entirely.

He feels responsible is all. The Captain’s injured and it’s partly Nick’s fault. It’s what any officer would do for an injured colleague. He ignores the tiny little voice whispering in his ear that Nick is lying to himself.

Hours later Nick is installed in the horrible visitors’ chair next to his Captain’s bed. The doctors have put Sean’s shoulder back, and tended to the puncture wounds and now Sean’s all wrapped up, with some kind of weird brace holding his shoulder in what looks like a miserably uncomfortable and strained backwards position, but is something that the doctor assures Nick will help the horribly torn shoulder actually heal.

Nick just thinks that it’s a good thing that Renard is drugged to the gills, because however painful Nick thinks it looks, it has to be ten times that for Sean being on the receiving end of this.

At first Nick just sits there, waiting. But after a while he remembers the look in Sean’s eyes just before he passes out. Lost and scared and in a hell of a lot of pain, and he starts to think how he would feel.

Sean’s left hand is just there, resting limply on the mattress nearest to Nick. Nick doesn’t bother to think it through, he just reaches out to very carefully wrap his hand around Sean’s. It would be good for Sean to wake up to a friendly touch, just so he knows he’s not alone.

Nick holds Sean’s hand, and gently strokes the tender skin inside Sean’s wrist. Soothing, over and over again. Uncertain whether he is soothing himself because he so badly misjudged what was going on, or soothing Sean, trying to reduce the pain.

Whatever Nick expected from Juliette, it wasn’t to find his senior officer, battered, bruised and bloodied from the encounter.


	4. Beaten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nick stays by his Captain's side, and learns something new about himself.

“Nick, we have to talk.”

He’s been home to change his clothes, get some sleep, and return because Sean really needs him. Sean got beaten to a pulp because Nick failed Juliette.

Rosalee puts her hand on Nick’s shoulder, trying to communicate through touch alone. “And I know what you are thinking, but that’s exactly the problem here. You are no more to blame than Sean is, and neither of you have a hope of fixing her.”

Nick shakes his head, starts to protest.

Rosalee holds up a hand. “No Nick. If you had stayed with her, it would be you in that bed, and not Sean.”

Nick glances towards the bed. Rosalee’s been sitting with Sean; she was horrified when Nick told her what had happened and insisted on staying with the Captain while Nick and Hank got some rest.

Now Nick’s back, apparently Sean has woken up a few times, and mostly drifted back to sleep, they’re supposed to be reducing his medications but he’s in severe pain from the shoulder injuries, and the two attempts so far to bring down his dosages has resulted in the Captain actually crying in pain.

Nick slips into the seat and wraps his hand around the Captain’s uninjured left hand, “I…er…” He doesn’t know what to say because this situation is so far outside of anything that Nick imagined might happen, but Rosalee picks up on his confusion and gently squeezes his shoulder in understanding.

“Later, right now, he needs you.”

Nick nods in response, although he’s not sure that’s quite accurate. He thinks back on everything, and just maybe he needs his Captain more than he thought he did. He thinks about all the things that the Captain has done for Nick.

Including taking on Juliette’s frustrations, which have just come damn close to getting him killed.

Nick looks at the heavily wrapped shoulder, the brace pinning it in place, Sean’s arm, immobilized across his chest. Sean could have died, if Nick and Hank had been just that bit later, Nick was horrified at what she had done, and taking the crossbow from the trailer, Juliette probably intended to cause Nick harm too.

It hurts to think of it. Now more than ever Nick regrets how he handled it. If he could just have found the courage to look at Juliette, given her the support she needed, Sean would not have been injured. Hank and Wu would not have to cover for Nick, because they both knew where the crossbow came from.

Add that to the trauma of seeing their Captain like that.

All of this because Nick couldn’t man up when it really counted.

Nick squeezes Sean’s hand. “Sorry.”

It takes him a second to realize that Sean is squeezing back.

Renard wakes, his throat is dry and sore, his head aches from a combination of blood loss (he figures) and whatever the hell drugs they are pushing into his system. Which he is perversely quite grateful for, his left arm aches a bit, but his right shoulder is literal agony.

There’s this unexpected warmth around his left hand, and that’s what causes Sean to open his eyes.

He expected to see Rosalee. She had been there the last few times he woke up. He’d tried to apologise for not really heeding her warnings. Her gentle fingers had smoothed his brow, and her lovely warm voice had whispered “nonsense Sean, now get some more sleep.” He’d drifted off, warmed by her words, understanding what made Monroe so crazy about her, he’s kinda a little crazy about her himself.

This time it was Nick, and from the look of him, Nick was beating himself up over what had happened to Sean.

“Don’t.” Sean croaks. His throat is so sore, and he takes the water gratefully when Nick brings the glass up so that Sean can reach the straw.

Sean’s skin is a myriad of bruises. Some he’s clearly been carrying for a while, and Nick wonders why he never saw them.

Too busy being pissed at Sean for having taken in Juliette. The guilt tears into Nick, he can feel his vision blurring, and Sean’s hand wraps itself slowly and clearly painfully around Nick’s neck, gently pulling him in closer.

“I made the decision.” Sean is panting a little from the strain. “I took her in, it’s not your fault.” Holding on is too much, and he flops back against the pillows. Nick presses the call button as Sean continues to pant through the waves of pain.

“Sean!”

It takes a while for the monitors to calm down, the nurses to leave them in peace again, and Nick has to promise not to over-excite the patient. Something that he’s keen to do. Sean needs peace and rest after what he’s been through.

Nick’s trying not to think of that other thing too, how nice it is to hold Sean’s hand. The warmth of his skin, the fact that their callouses match is kind of erotic. Thinking about Sean’s hands on Nick’s body.

Sean’s defenses have been completely blown, and all he can think of is the pleasure of Nick’s hand holding his. It makes the pain better somehow. He tightens his grip a little, ignoring the ache in his arm.

His shoulder is not quite so easy to ignore, but he wants to be awake for as long as possible to stretch out his time with Nick, so he leaves the meds button.

“Sean?” Nick realizes pretty quickly when the pain in Renard’s shoulder starts to overwhelm him and reaches for the button. Sean wants to hang on, but Nick gently pushes the button for him. “There will be plenty of time. I promise.”

Nick strokes Sean’s hand as his Captain falls back to sleep, and wishes he had recognized his feelings before seeing Renard beaten and broken like this. They had wasted so much time.


	5. Broken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nick and Sean are together, and Sean is out of hospital, but things are far from normal as Nick learns...

_Two Months Later_

It took a long time, and for a while it was touch and go whether Renard’s career as a police officer was over. His shoulder was wrecked, and it took a second operation to correct the damage.

The long, slow and very painful recovery brought Nick and Sean closer. One night the young Grimm seized the moment, and pulled his Captain into a kiss that told him everything he needed to know.

So they were together, and their friends were happy for them.

Not that there haven’t been some bumps in the road.

The fallout from what Juliette was becoming had far reaching consequences. Everyone was unnerved by what had happened to Sean.

But the biggest shock to Nick was Sean’s reaction to the crossbow. 

It had been a long day, and Nick, Hank and Wu had returned to Nick’s house immediately post a protracted fight with a pair of skalengenks. Nick still had the crossbow with him, and he laid it on the kitchen counter as he went to get beer for everybody.

“Sean?” Nick called up the stairs, Renard spent quite a lot of time at Nick’s house, and hindsight being perfect, Nick later realized that this was a big clue. “Want a beer?” Post-op, the Captain was still on various medications, but he could have a beer without a problem.

“Sure.” The sound of his footsteps on the stairs made Nick smile, he had no idea how they fit together so well, but just the sound of his boyfriend’s footsteps on the stairs made a little rush of happiness dance through Nick’s soul. He reached for a fourth beer, and turned just as Sean entered the kitchen.

Sean’s right arm was still in a sling, but otherwise the Captain looked healthy and happy.

Then Sean’s eyes fell on the crossbow sitting on the counter, the smile disappeared from his face in an instant, and he froze.

Shit. Nick was kicking himself as he stepped forward, putting a hand up he turned Sean’s gaze towards him, as Hank moved in to remove the offending weapon from Sean’s sight.

Nick wrapped his arms around his boyfriend inwardly cursing his own stupidity. Sean might be royal and a zauberbiest, but the big frame was shaking and his breathing was rapid and shallow. Physically he might have been mostly over his ordeal, but mentally was something completely separate.

Nick pulled Sean in close, holding him, running his hands over the Captain’s body as Sean woged in fright.

“ssshhhh” Soothing him, Nick just kept holding him as Renard fought for control.

“Sorry.” Renard’s voice was low, the tone flat with suppressed emotion.

“Nothing to be sorry about.” Nick eased back a little, but kept his arm around Renard’s waist; one tiny benefit of his previous zombie issues was that Nick could suppress his heart rate to a soothing low beat, and he did this now, taking a few slow deep calming breaths until he could feel Renard regaining his equilibrium.

Nick stayed where he was. His sensitive hearing had picked up on Hank and Wu’s strategic retreat, so he kept his hands on the Captain, and his body pressed up against Sean’s. Putting a hand up to Sean’s cheek he gently caressed his lover’s face.

“I…” The Sean Renard that Nick knew and loved was never at a loss for words, but just the sight of the crossbow used to half kill him was enough to throw him into a near panic attack, and Nick should have been prepared for that.

Running on instinct, Nick took Sean’s hand and drew him back upstairs, that his zauberbiest followed him without a word, just meekly compliant, broke Nick’s heart all over again.

Renard was a very powerful creature, and half Royal a sophisticated man of the world, there was nothing meek or compliant in his make-up, but his emotional trauma hadn’t really been dealt with and since Renard, up until now, was so very good at covering and forcing all the bad stuff back behind his usual wall of reserve, Nick hadn’t realized how traumatised his lover was.

When he climbed onto their bed, and held out his arms, Sean didn’t hesitate, didn’t try to hold onto the tattered remains of his dignity, but crawled into his arms and put his head down on Nick’s shoulder, the Grimm knew they had a long way to go.

On a rational level Sean knew that his emotions were all over the place. The beatings that he had taken had messed with his head, but being shot with the crossbow, that Juliette had taunted him with, knowing what she intended, that he should bleed out, and Nick should be charged with his murder. The fact that she was still out there. Not being in a position to protect Nick, his latest check-up the doctor said that Sean was going to be out for months, not weeks.

Until he laid eyes on the crossbow, which he had seen many times before, he would have said he had a pretty good grip on his feelings about everything that happened to him.

His Grimm had his arms around Sean, and as easy as it would have been to pretend, Sean’s very good at pretending, he found that he didn’t want to. Just once in his life, he needed the reassurance that everything was not alright and he was going to be fine, but it would take time.

Sean relaxed into Nick’s arms, and let his Grimm hold him. Things didn’t seem so bad when they were together.


End file.
